Vikramaditya Growing Air-Defense Teeth

The Indian Navy completed refitting its new aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya with Barak-1 air defense systems and associated radars, preparing the new carrier for operational service. The carrier was acquired from Russia and commissioned into service in November 2013 without self protection systems.

The Vikramaditya is equipped with an Israeli Barak-1 point defence missile system and Russian made AK-630 close-in weapon system, ‘borrowed’ from a to-be-decommissioned Godavari-class ship. According to Vice-Admiral P. Murugesan, Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff the carrier was originally scheduled to receive the Barak-8 long-range surface-to-air missile (LRSAM) system developed jointly with Israel, but the new system has yet to be inducted to service, pending final acceptance tests on the Kolkata Class destroyer.